APA-Kigali (Rwanda) The International rights watchdog, Amnesty International has welcomed the arrest by the German authorities of top Rwandan militias whose rebel forces in DR Congo are accused of committing several human rights violations that include the 1994 genocide, APA notes here this Saturday.

German law enforcement officers this week arrested Ignace Murwanashyaka, President of the Democratic Liberation Forces of Rwanda (FDLR), and his deputy, Straton Musoni, a move that has also been welcomed by the Rwandan authorities who called for their extradition to Rwanda.

According to a press statement by Amnesty International availed to APA, the arrest was on 17 an important step forward in addressing impunity and establishing accountability for war crimes and crimes against humanity committed in eastern DRC.

"The FDLR has been responsible for innumerable killings of civilians, rape, abductions of women and girls for sexual slavery, recruitment of children, destruction of villages and other human rights abuses in the eastern provinces of the DRC. These crimes have been amply documented by Amnesty International and other organizations," the international watchdog says.

"These are the first arrests of senior leaders of armed groups or forces on charges relating to war crimes and crimes against humanity committed in the Kivu provinces of eastern DRC,” added the statement.

Pointing to the obligation of all states to prosecute or extradite persons allegedly responsible for crimes under international law, Amnesty International called on other states, including the DRC and Rwanda, to mount investigations, arrests and prosecutions against other suspected war criminals in eastern DRC or to extradite them to countries where fair trial rights can be guaranteed.

"It is not acceptable that the DRC government resists calls for the arrest of Bosco Ntaganda, for whom an arrest warrant has been issued by the International Criminal Court. We urge the DRC government to arrest Bosco Ntaganda immediately and transfer him to the ICC, as they are required to do under international law,” said TI.

The rights body also called on both Rwanda and the DRC to urgently clarify what judicial action they will take against former armed group leader Laurent Nkunda, who has been held by the Rwandan authorities since January 2009, and of Jules Mutebutsi, present in Rwanda since 2004, despite credible accusations that both men were responsible for war crimes in eastern DRC.